“because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set youfree from the law of sin and death” Romans 8:2 (NIV).
Last time we looked at three examples of the way Jesus treated people’s mistakes. Since we know God is consistent and doesn’t change, then we can be confident He handled most other mistakes the same way. He first showed compassion toward the person, acknowledging that a mistake was made, but spoke matter-of-factly with no condemnation. He didn’t try to ignore the sin or pretend it didn’t exist. He talked about it openly. Then, He addressed first the spiritual need of the person, demonstrating love toward the person, before He handled the mistake in the most appropriate way. Sometimes it was to guide the person to eradicating the sin from their life, sometimes it was to remind the person He could be trusted, and sometimes it was to encourage the person to “go and sin no more.” Not once in any of these examples did Jesus degrade, criticize, demean, or replay the person’s mistakes repeatedly.
So, my point in all this is two-fold. We need to look toward Jesus’ response in the Bible for the best response when others’ make mistakes that affect us. And also, we need to remind ourselves that if Jesus is willing to show us compassion when we’re learning, we need to give ourselves that same courtesy. After all, if that’s the way the God of the Universe handles the situation, it seems like it would be the best response we could give ourselves.
© 2013 Cheri Swalwell